Education Affiliates Turns to ADP to Streamline HR, Payroll Systems

"Having our payroll, time and attendance, HR and recruiting information all on one easy-to-navigate platform, has been a game changer," said Lydia Chodnicki, director of Payroll at Education Affiliates.

After years of rapid growth and many acquisitions, Education Affiliates realized that having disparate HR and payroll systems in each of its more than 45 locations across the United States proved to be inefficient and costly. Having decentralized payroll and HR systems, made it difficult to standardize processes and have visibility into workforce data.

To solve for this, the company implemented ADP Vantage HCM, an integrated cloud-based human capital management solution. “Having our payroll, time and attendance, HR and recruiting information all on one easy-to-navigate platform, has been a game changer,” said Lydia Chodnicki, director of Payroll at Education Affiliates.

“Prior to ADP, everything was done on paper. Our time system wasn’t connected to our various payroll systems so importing and exporting payroll information would habitually cause problems. Since we’ve gotten rid of manual processes, I now can see and pull payroll data in real-time so I’m no longer putting out fires, but rather preventing them with relative ease.”

“Within the first year of partnering with ADP, we saved a couple hundred thousand dollars in various expenses and solving for inefficiencies,” added Steve Budosh, chief financial officer at Education Affiliates. “Our payroll and HR systems easily and immediately interface with our many insurance providers so I know that I’m getting bills, requests, or hire requisitions in real-time. I’m then able to respond immediately using my mobile device which has made mistakes and inefficiency a thing of the past. A job that would normally take days I can now do in seconds on my phone.”

Another benefit: Freeing up the HR staff so they can spend more time on strategic initiatives.

“Before ADP, it could take up to two days to run all the different payrolls, now it can be done companywide in under two hours freeing my staff up for other duties,” added Chodnicki. “We also save time since the platform is very user-friendly so little training is required.”

Debbie Dyson, president of ADP National Account Services and Client Experience, said she’s delighted that Education Affiliates is relying on ADP to help drive efficiency by implementing ADP Vantage HCM.

“We’re proud to provide Education Affiliates with the technology it needs to reduce administrative work so that its team can focus more on driving strategic initiatives,” said Dyson. “Our goal is to deliver an easy, seamless, and integrated client experience, and we’re excited we can help the company save time, eliminate manual processes and reduce costs.”

“Because ADP is a fully integrated solution, it has helped us to streamline processes and eliminate all the paper and waste,” remarked Budosh. “With ADP, I get peace of mind. I know an employee is not in our system unless they have been approved, that their pay is correct, that when they leave us, we have the appropriate checks and balances to offer insurance coverages as necessary under law, and that we manage all of that effectively.”

According to Chodnicki, ADP has also helped Education Affiliates with data reporting.

“Before ADP, if someone wrote a report in one system, it often proved impossible for someone using another system to pull that data,” said Chodnicki. “ADP has linked the data between payroll, HR and time and attendance so we can easily pull and filter accurate data across all modules.”

Budosh also raved about ADP’s customer support. He said every time he calls, within minutes someone is helping him rectify the issue quickly and painlessly.

“I don’t know any other company in the industry that’s as attentive and who really cares about what we need from them,” added Chodnicki. “With ADP, it’s definitely not a client-vendor relationship but a genuine partnership.”